


Eulogy

by clockwork_spider



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 22:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9680831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockwork_spider/pseuds/clockwork_spider
Summary: At Leo's funeral, Reiji’s eulogy was delivered with flat voice and dried eyes.





	

Reiji’s eulogy was delivered with flat voice and dried eyes. It was simple, political, highlighting the success of Leo’s career in Standard and his contribution to duelling technology, with a careful remark to address the war crimes. 

The funeral had a distinct lack of tears, save for a few from the widow. Leo didn’t make a lot of friends that would cry for him, and Himika didn’t make the type of friends that would cry with her. 

Shun sat on one of the (mostly empty) seats, wondering whatever the hell he was doing there. He wanted to see this to the end, for the comrades that were once carded (now whole again), but there was no satisfaction in hearing empty praises for the man that was Leo. Instead, Shun felt like a bull in a china shop, and that at any moment he’d burst out screaming about the crime Leo had committed, the scars left behind in Heartland, shattering the illusion of grief. 

He didn’t. 

Reiji sat down beside him. 

Shun gave Reiji a nod of acknowledgement and said nothing. No condolences would have been sincere. So they sat in silence. 

“I don’t forgive him for what he’s done,” said Reiji. 

“I know,” said Shun. That bit was obvious. 

“I had to write good things about him. After all these years, after the war, it… felt like a betrayal.” 

Shun wondered whether if it was. It was difficult, hearing Reiji saying praises for the man responsible for destroying his homeland. He remembered Reiji when they first met, who said, _I doubt I’d be any valuable as a hostage_ , the same Reiji that called Leo ‘Father’ in the final moments. 

“It’s alright,” Shun said, and he wasn’t quite sure whether he was lying. 

“I hate him,” said Reiji, white knuckled and staring down at the floor. 

Shun didn’t know what to say. Reiji wasn’t the type to voice his emotions or ramble. So he simply nodded. 

“When I wrote my eulogy, I had to make myself remember good things about him. I remembered my first official loss. He knelt down and asked me what I learned, and when I answered him he told me that he was proud of me, that I needed to look forward to victory. I remembered when I had a fever as a child, and he came home early and worked on his laptop by my bedside. I didn’t… I’ve never even known him then,” the words came in a stream of monotonous syllables, broken at parts, like the eulogy itself. 

“I didn’t think it would have been appropriate to write that in,” Reiji said, and looked up at Shun, in that sharp, intense way. Shun didn’t know what Reiji was expecting. It was even less appropriate to tell these to Shun, who didn’t want to know Leo as a human, as a father. 

Shun could vaguely remember the funeral of his own parents, and holding Ruri’s smaller hand in his own. He was just old enough to understand the concept of death, old enough to know that he’d never see Mum and Dad again. 

Death was different from carding, you don’t get brought back. It made no sense. 

“You’re allowed,” Shun said, “I won’t forgive him for what he did to Heartland, and I’m glad he’s dead…” he paused for a moment, losing his point. He remembered a relative’s hand on his shoulder, telling him ‘ _it’s going to be okay_ ’. “But he was your father, you’re allowed to love him. You’re allowed to grieve.” 

Reiji’s gaze lingered for a moment longer, searching, analyzing, and finally turned away. 

“I hate him,” Reiji’s monotone cracked to a tiny whisper, the heel of his hands pressed against his eyes, pushing the glasses to his forehead, “I hate him.” 

It was the same Reiji that lead the Lancers, that declared war. Shun believed him. 

“I know,” Shun said. It had never been alright. 

They sat in silence, and when Reiji’s shoulders begun to shake, Shun rested his hand on Reiji’s arm. 


End file.
